The English Templar
A novel by Helena P. Schrader
Read a review of this novel at http://www.simegen.com/reviews/historical/
Synopsis
Friday 13th of October, 1307
In the early hours of Friday, Oct. 13, 1307, soldiers acting on orders from King Philip IV of France seized all Templar properties and arrested all Templars within his Kingdom.
Although King Philip's arrests were in clear violation of the Pope's prerogatives, Pope Clement V failed to oppose or even vigorously protest against the arrest of clergy ostensibly subject only to himself.
The English Templar, Percy
Sir Percival "Percy" de Lacy is an English Templar trapped in France when Philip IV strikes at the Knights Templar. Imprisoned and tortured into a false confession, Percy learns the depths of human degradation and despair.
But seeking only his death, Percy falls instead into the hands of two people determined to save him: Geoffrey de Preuthune, the Cypriot Knight, and his granddaughter, Félice.
Percy's rescue from the hands of the Inquisition is, however, only the beginning of his odyssey.
The former Templar novice, Geoffrey de Preuthune, now approaching 80 years of age and a widower, cannot believe the allegations made against the Knights Templar. When he finds Percy near death, he insists on helping him.
Resistance from the "Free Templars"
All across France, isolated individual Templars who for one reason or another were not in their commanderies on the night of Oct. 13, 1307 have escaped arrest. Most simply disappear in obscurity, but some want to fight back against injustice. From humble beginnings, a organisation of free Templars is gradually built up.
Volunteers from the countries where the Templars have been found innocent or the arrests carried out half-heartedly join the efforts of the free Templars.
Although Percy initially joins the struggle against the Inquisition reluctantly, he soon becomes consumed with the need for revenge.
Félice de Preuthune
Félice has been educated in a convent school, but neither her school-girl vows of love for a student nor her obedience to her parents, who send her into a foreign marriage, can diminish the bonds that bind her to Percy.
Félice is threatened not by too much hate but by too much love. Torn between her girlhood sweetheart, her legal husband and the man who is her very personal saviour, Félice founders and stumbles to the brink of suicide.
Félice must first descend into a private hell to learn her own heart. She returns to the struggle strengthened but still vulnerable.
This, the third novel of Schrader’s Templar Trilogy, is set against the backdrop of the destruction of the Knights Templar by Philip IV of France. It is a story of the struggle between good and evil in human hearts. Whereas Sir Percy must learn to tame his hatred, Félice has to learn how to focus and define her love.
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More information about Helena Schrader's reasearch on the Knights Templar and the remaining novels of the Templar Trilogy at: Knights Templar, The Cypriot Knight and Sir Jean of Acre
More information about Helena Schrader's Medieval research and publications at: Other Medieval
